Abstract Development Core The goal of the Development Core (DC) is to design, implement, and monitor services and activities that further the specific aims of the CPRC, which are: (1) to nourish a vibrant intellectual community of population researchers at Columbia University, encouraging collaborations among population scientists and between population scientists and scientists in other disciplines and fostering the development of junior population scientists; (2) to advance population research in the CPRC s four primary research areas: children, youth, and families; gender, sexuality, health, and HIV; migration/immigration; and urbanism; (3) to become a leading population center focused on research on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations locally, nationally, and internationally, and on public policies relevant to those populations; and (4) to take advantage of Columbia s location in New York City by partnering with city policy makers and practitioners to address mutual research interests and to translate research into policy and practice. The Development Core is co- chaired by Jennifer Hirsch and Jane Waldfogel, two highly qualified researchers who have co-chaired the Development Core since its inception. The Development Core helps achieve the CPRC specific aims by providing the following services and activities: 1) The seminar series, which represents the heart of the CPRC s intellectual community; 2) Primary Research Area groups whose activities generate multiple cross-campus collaborations to advance population science; 3) Working groups are clusters of researchers who are organized around a specific research topic or problem and who commit to develop either a research project or a CPRC-wide initiative; 4) Conferences and workshops that bring together researchers from the CPRC and beyond providing an opportunity for researchers to get to know each other and explore the complementarities in their work; 5) A seed grant program that galvanizes population research at Columbia by providing strategic support for the ideas most likely to bear fruit in the form of fundable research proposals and publications; 6) A junior scientist mentoring and support program that promotes the career development of junior faculty and research scientists, post-docs, and graduate students conducting population research; 7) A visiting scholars program that welcomes visitors whose work ties in closely with the CPRC s primary research areas and with the work of one or more designated faculty collaborators; and 8) A proposed junior faculty release time program that will allow one competitively selected junior faculty member a half semester release time for research and publication.